Randa Mirza
Abandoned Rooms & Abandoned Rooms (Details)
2006
| C-prints mounted on aluminum dibond | 100 x 150 cm &
29 x 44 cm
In Abandoned Rooms, Randa Mirza confronts repressed memories,
entering into scarred spaces that were occupied by squatters
during Lebanon's civil war (1975 – 1990). Today, many of these
once confiscated dwellings remain in ruins - un-nursed wounds
left gaping in Lebanon's collective memory - in spite of the
country's post-war reconstruction frenzy. Such traces of violence
endure as witnesses to the hostilities of the past and reminders
of an overhanging conflict. Abandoned Rooms is a poetic testimony
on destruction and war made through painterly images that
sensitively avoid reverting to voyeuristic practices; instead,
these images stir in their viewers a sense of sympathy and
deep connection. Mirza's photographs speak of the past in
the present, of presence in absence, of death and survival,
and of what is forgotten and what lingers.
Born in Beirut in 1978, Randa Mirza is a visual artist who
works with digital photography and live video editing to investigate
the visible and invisible manifestations of war.
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